


Slowly Freezing from Sleeping in the Snow

by Anyonesguess



Category: Biohazard | Resident Evil (Gameverse)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Blood, Blood and Gore, Blood and Injury, Chris doing his best, Cuddling & Snuggling, First Aid, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Leon being an idiot cause he's got feelings and doesn't know what to do with them, Love Confessions, M/M, Mutual Pining, There's cuddling, This is not a hypothermia cuddle fic? but kind of, Whump, bullet wounds, it's cold
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-24
Updated: 2020-02-24
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:13:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22874560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anyonesguess/pseuds/Anyonesguess
Summary: After trying to hide his injuries for the better part of a mission, Leon collapses, leaving Chris to keep him alive and figure out what to do with Leon's delirious confession of his feelings for Chris.Or, alternatively,On a mission in a creepy ass lab, Leon gets hit and does his best to hide it from chris cause I’m dumb and gay. Hilarity ensues.
Relationships: Leon S. Kennedy/Chris Redfield
Comments: 15
Kudos: 251





	Slowly Freezing from Sleeping in the Snow

**Author's Note:**

> Hiii i'm baaaack. I'm gonna finish Things We Should Have Left Burried, I promise I'm just busy and like. drawing? hard. So I wanted to write a lil fic tho cause I miss my boys ;-; Also, thank you aide for beta reading and also giving this fic a title, i love you <3 <3 <3   
> Anyway I hope ya'll enjoy!!

It was barely noticeable in the gunfire. It _shouldn’t_ have been noticeable in the gunfire. And maybe, it wasn’t audibly, maybe Chris had only thought he had heard it. Maybe out of the corner of his eye, he had seen the most subtle of flinches, the twitch of the eye, the slightest grimace pass over Leon’s face before it was gone. But in Chris’ mind, he had heard it. That slight hiss of pain that Leon had tried to stifle. He’d been hit. Chris knew it.

Chris waited for Leon to call it, to acknowledge the wound, but more shots rang out, and Leon stood steady, ducking and firing without any signs of what Chris had thought he had seen. Or heard.

Maybe he hadn’t heard anything. He took one final look at Leon, looking for any signs of the injury. His face was twisted in an angered grimace as they kept shooting at the Umbrella soldiers, eventually dwindling their numbers until finally, Leon’s let out a final round and the last body hit the floor, the others still warm. After a moment of hesitation and heavy breathing, they both stood and surveyed the wreckage.

“Could have been more help in that” Leon grumbled, as he began searching the bodies for anything of use.

Chris just looked at him, the concern still present. Leon was moving like nothing had happened, not even a twinge of pain in his step. Nothing. Chris stepped over the overturned desk they had been using as cover, now riddled with dents from bullets. Thank god Umbrella made nearly everything bullet proof. It came in handy for them at least.

Chris walked over to Leon, who had moved from one body to the next, taking in the environment. It was an umbrella lab like any other, Sterile, cold, uncaring, but now hauntingly warm with decay. An outbreak had happened here a few months ago, and while the undead had been cleared out, evidence was still abundant. Which was why they were there. And why the umbrella extraction team was there too. Now just corpses to add to the disturbing scenery. Chris hoped they would stay that way.

Chris double checked the area as Leon finished looking over the bodies, though his mind was still on Leon. Regardless of how Chris might have felt about him, he was acting odd, even for Leon. He was moody, a little off putting, but Chris had spent more time than he cared too admit taking him in, cataloguing his different moods, the little quirks that made him Leon. People claimed that Chris was unobservant, but that really only came to things he wasn’t interested in; And Leon was something Chris was definitely interested in.

Chris finished his search just as Leon did, standing up from the bodies, blood covering the front of his clothes. Chris cocked his head in concern.

“Where’d that come from?”

Leon nodded towards the bodies. “Them. Some of ‘em were still with the living.” His words were weirdly stunted. Chris had never heard Leon speak like that before. Something was off.

“Don’t have to worry about that anymore though.” Leon said, his expression grim as he sheathed the knife in his hand. Chris pursed his lips.

“You sure? I thought I heard you make a noise during the fight, Like you got hit or something. You sure you’re okay?”

Leon rolled his eyes, “I’m fine, boss, bullet went by a little too close comfort, that’s all.”

Chris wasn’t sure he believed him. Leon was looking more ragged by the minute. He looked exhausted, but in all fairness that could have just been from the gunfight. Leon tried to hide it, but it wasn’t hard to tell he didn’t sleep much. Chris wondered when the last time he’d slept properly was. And besides. If Leon was really injured, he would have said something. He wasn’t an idiot. He knew what hiding that kind of injury could mean for the both of them.

“If you’re sure, then we can keep—”

“I am.” Leon said, pushing past Chris for the next part of the lab.

Chris sighed, frustration bubbling up in his throat. He swallowed it down, Jerking his head slightly. He didn’t like snapping at anyone, but Leon especially.

“Alright then. Let’s go.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Their intel was good. The building was exactly as their blueprints had said, which meant behind the set of doors in front of them would be all the samples they needed. Unfortunately, they were sealed. Leon tapped at the keypad next to them, as Chris surveyed the doors. They were monstrous round things a few feet taller than he was. They almost reminded him of some sort of demented hobbit hole. Mostly out of boredom as Leon typed away and not expecting it to work, Chris lightly tapped the door with his boot.

“Gah, the key code’s not working.” Leon said, as the machine beeped in refusal. “it’s got a keycard option so if we can find one we should still be able to get in.”

Chris nodded,

“It’d be nice if they had some normal doors for once. Or something I could shoot open.”

Leon chuckled softly, and Chris smiled, proud of himself for making Leon laugh. Though, the laugh sounded hollow to Chris, his worry deepening.

“At least it isn’t fingerprint activated.” Leon quipped back. “Carrying around some guys hand would get old fast.”

Chris laughed, “Be lucky if it didn’t try to grab your ass when you put it in your pocket.”

“Depends on what you’re into.”

Chris choked on his tongue, blushing slightly,

“Didn’t take you for a necrophiliac, Kennedy.”

Leon let out a bark of laughter, which he quickly stifled. Chris could have sworn he saw Leon’s face shift in a grimace before it smoothed over, as if nothing had happened. Chris’ eyes knit together.

“You okay?” He reached a hand out to touch Leon’s shoulder, wanting to steady him.

Leon batted it away,

“Yeah I’m fine. Just not my kink. And don’t call me that.” 

“Sorry,” Chris muttered, his hands up in mock surrender as Leon once again brushed past him. He watched Leon closely, certain there was something wrong. ButLeon’s behavior was on par with normal, outside of his agitation. Maybe Chris was the one who needed sleep.

Leon looked around the room, surveying the two different hallways. Chris could see him chew on the inside of his cheek, a sure sign he was cooking up something Chris wouldn’t like. And he was right.

“Let’s split, You take that hallway, I take the other. Should make better time.”

Something about the way Leon spoke put Chris on edge. His words were in quick, sharp bursts as opposed to the smooth flow he was used too. But regardless of his suspicions, Chris was never a fan of intentionally splitting up. Too many bad memories.

“No, We’re staying together. We don’t know what else is in here.” Chris ordered, using his captain's voice.

This seemed to only annoy Leon further, as he spit out, “I’m an adult Chris, I can handle myself.”

Chris pursed his lips, feeling the frustration bubble up in him again.

“That’s not what I meant and you know it.”

Leon wilted slightly at that. He let out a long, tired sigh. Chris could feel the exhaustion, almost about to offer they take a break, when Leon started moving again,

“You’re right. Let’s just…find the card.”

Leon pushed forward as always, though Chris couldn’t help notice there wasn’t much certainty in his steps.

The uncertainty of Leon’s gait stayed, soon becoming almost sluggish, with Leon lagging behind Chris. That was not normal. Leon always took point, citing Chris’s ‘shit stealth’ as the reason he should be first. Even on Leon’s worst days, he would always be in front. Something was wrong.

Chris turned, ready to confront Leon. Leon, however, was in a daze, running face first into Chris. The impact snapped him out of his stupor, but not before Chris noticed that it had been there at all. His glazed look turned to annoyance, glaring at Chris.

“What?” He nearly growled, the heat less aggressive and more like something caught in a corner.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Chris was done playing games, but still cautious. If Leon felt he was being attacked, he’d clam up harder. Which, he was apparently taking this as an attack.

Leon scowled, “I’m fine, I’m just tir-“

“You don’t seem fine,” Chris interrupted him, agitating Leon more. “In fact, you’re not acting like yourself at all. What’s with you in the back? You never take back.”

Leon’s scowl deepend, his sunken eyes refusing to look at Chris. They darted around the room they had just entered, as if looking for some kind of escape, before settling on something over chris’ shoulder. Without a word, he pushed past Chris, stalking angrily towards a desk with rummaged papers on it. Leon swiped the papers out of the way to reveal a keycard. He turned, holding it up for Chris to see.

“Got it. Let’s go.” He grunted, before stalking back into the hallway and towards the locked door.

The way back, Leon didn’t lag behind, keeping himself in front. By the time they reached the door, Chris could tell it had cost Leon greatly. He was pale, his breathing ragged and pained. He thrust the keycard to Chris, though not with as much force as Chris knew he meant too. Chris took it, as Leon leaned against the doorframe. Chris’s eyebrows once again knit in concern.

“You sure you're okay?”

“Yeah.” Leon grunted. “Get the sample and let’s go. I’ll hold the door.”

Chris pursed his lips. He didn’t like this plan, but whatever was wrong, Chris didn’t want to push Leon any further. If their intel was accurate, and it had been pretty much spot on thus far, the small room beyond would hold the samples they needed. It wouldn’t be long before they could get back to rendezvous and Chris could make sure the medics checked Leon, even if he had to hold him down kicking and screaming. Chris nodded, accepting it.

“Okay. I’ll be right back.”

Chris swiped the keycard, the rounded doors unlocking in a manner that seemed overly complicated and took far too long. Once they were open enough for him to push through he did so, letting the doors sort out the rest of their bullshit once he was in the room.

The room was in fact small, and cold, Chris’s skin prickling. He could see his breath in the cold.

“Refrigerated” He mumbled to himself. “Great.”

If Leon’s state hadn’t been enough to make him pick up the pace, the cold certainly was. He quickly scanned the room, looking for the sample. It didn’t take long to spot it, a small glass vial with some sort of liquid in it. Chris didn’t care what it was really, only that they had it now. He gingerly put it in the small aluminum carrying case he had been given before tucking it back in one of his pouches. With that, he radioed out.

“This is Redfield, I have the sample. Kennedy and I will be heading back shortly.”

“Copy that, We’ll have extraction ready for you at the rendezvous point. Anything else?” Jill called back,

Chris chewed his lip, turning back to Leon.

He had stepped part way into the room, but was leaning on the door frame, now rather heavily. Even from the few feet between them, Chris could see Leon’s heavy, shuddering breaths shaking his whole body. He did not look good. Chris worried he’d have to half carry him out of the building. He radioed back,

“Kennedy is injured, We’ll need medics on—Oh shit”

Chris didn’t finish his thought before Leon collapsed, hitting the ground hard, and not moving once he got there.

Chris darted towards him, on his knees as soon as he was close enough to roll Leon over. He pushed the blood coated leather jacket out of the way, fingers and eyes searching for the would that had to be present. Their blood his ass, this had to be from Leon, most of it was still warm and wet. His fingers found the ragged hole in Leon’s abdomen, immediately putting pressure with one hand and feeling under Leon for a second. There wasn’t one, which was fine by him. Just one hole was enough to deal with.

“Chris? Chris! What happened?” Jill’s normally stoic voice was almost desperate over the radio.

Chris cursed under his breath, removing one hand and leaning harder on the other to try to make up for it. He grabbed his mic, his fingers slippery with Leon’s blood.

“Kennedy’s down, we need immediate medical assistance!” he shouted, which seemed to rouse Leon somewhat, who squirmed under Chris’s weight.

“Understood! You two cleared the building, we’ll be there shortly! Try not to move him, and hang on okay?” Jill called.

Chris didn’t bother responding over the radio, just putting both hands back on Leon.

“You know, of all the times I imagined getting my hands on you, this really wasn’t what I was hoping for.”

He pushed harder, the blood still flowing, though sluggishly. He wasn’t sure if that was good or if Leon just didn’t have much blood left to come out. Leon let out a small pained noise at the increased pressure, his eyes fluttering slightly.

“Hey! You with me, Kennedy?”

“Don’t—don’t call me that,” Leon weezed through pained breaths.

“Sorry, Leon” Chris felt like the veneer of professionalism was the only thing keeping him from panicking. He could feel his heart rate picking up. This wasn’t how this was supposed to go. It was so simple, in and out. Despite that, he did his best to keep his voice steady.

“Can you tell me how you’re doing? Any other injuries you wanna tell me about?”

Leon weakly lifted his hand, giving a thumbs up, “Doin’ great. Juuuust peachy.” He muttered, before letting his hand fall to the ground.

“I can see that. Seems you’ve been doing great for a while now. Wanna let me know why you didn’t think this was worth telling me?” Despite his partner's current condition, he felt his anger was justified. It was a stupid move.

“Didn’t—gkh, didn’t think… it was gonna be this much of an uh… much of an issue.” His words were slurred and his eyes half lidded, not really focused on Chris, but trying.

“You got shot idiot. I think that’s something you should tell me,”

“yeah… my bad…” Leon trailed off, seeming to drift off slightly.

Wherever he was going, Chris needed him here. He resisted the urge to shake him, though his voice trembled slightly.

“Hey! Hey! Stay with me!” Chris yelled.

Leon pulled himself back up to the edge, just barely clinging on, but fighting hard for consciousness. They needed those medics five minutes ago, where the hell were they? Chris radioed out again, careful to keep the pressure up.

“Jill! Jill! Where are you guys!?”

The radio was silent for far too long before finally the radio chattered, Jill's voice coming through over the sounds of gunfire.

“Buildings not as clear as we thought! This might take us a minute, just try to keep him awake! We’re coming as fast as we can!”

“Shit.” Chris swore again as Leon began to tremble and the blood kept flowing. The shivering started slow, but quickly grew, becoming almost violent. They’d been in the refrigeration too long, and Leon was already in shock. Chris had no idea what the cold would do on top of that, but he needed to get Leon warm.

“Sorry Leon, this is gonna hurt”

With that, Chris pulled Leon out into the hallway, doing his best to keep the pressure on his stomach as much as he could. He lifted Leon into his lap, leaning them both against the wall, and bending Leon’s knees under his own legs, trying to keep the pull on Leon’s abdomen to a minimum. Even with that, Leon let out a soft cry as Chris moved him, his head lolling against Chris’s shoulder. Once settled, Chris resumed the pressure, bear hugging against the wound as hard as he could.

Even in the dire situation, Chris had to admit it felt nice to hold Leon. Yet again, not in the way he had intended, but if this was all he was going to get, he’d take it. As Chris was lost in thought, Leon groaned, before going silent and limp in Chris’ arms, pulling him back to reality. Chris’ heart rate picked up as he shouted in Leon’s ear.

“Hey! Nope! No sleeping, stay with me here.”

Leon barley stirred, not even flinching away from Chris’ voice in his ears, but he did respond, his voice barley a whisper.

“I’m sorry… I’m such—such a coward…” He muttered bitterly, “Wish I'd been—been braver.”

Leon thought he was dying.

“I think you’re pretty brave. You’ve still got some time left though, just—just stay with me.”

Leon laughed, a pitiful little bark that quickly turned into a cough. “No… I’m a fucking--- a fucking coward… never even told you… How I felt…”

That caught Chris off guard, startling him enough to lighten the pressure. He quickly regained his composure, resuming as his heart pounded in his ears.

“W-what did you say?” He stammered,

Leon did not respond, fully limp in Chris’ arms. Chris heart stopped, as he shook Leon against his better judgment.

“Hey! Wake up! What did you just say?”

But Leon was in no state to respond, his pulse weak, barley there and his breathing shallow, though the sound of footsteps down the hallway soon drowned it out.

“Shit, shit, shit!” Chris whispered, pulling Leon closer to him, partially to keep his grip and he reached for his gun, and partially for his own comfort. He aimed the gun towards the hall, gritting his teeth. He didn’t know what was in the hallway, but if he was going to die, he wouldn’t go down without enough of a fight for the both of them. And if he had to die, selfishly, he wanted to do it having held Leon as close as he could. Whatever outcome, this might be his only chance.

Suddenly, his radio came to life, as Jill cried, breathless.

“Chris! We’re in the hallway to the main lab, what’s your location?”

Relief flooded through Chris. He dropped the gun, putting all of his strength into holding Leon’s wound, as fruitless as it might have been at that point.

“Here!” he shouted, “We’re in here!” 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

Leon’s mouth was dry and his whole body ached. This wasn’t a new sensation. In fact, it happened after almost every mission. He didn’t know what bed he was in, but it certainly wasn’t his. This didn’t surprise him either, though the thin blankets paled in comparison to his down comforters. Who’s bed was it? Who knew. Certainly not him. He wasn’t even sure he wanted to be awake yet. Sleeping had been nice. He rarely slept long enough to feel this groggy waking up. It would have been easy to just slip back into it. But something was nagging at him.

He slowly became aware of more than just the aching and the grogginess. First the stronger pain in his side. That wasn’t good. He didn’t really remember how that happened, but he was sure he’d figure it out. Next thing he noticed was that something was squeezing his hand. It almost hurt, but there was something comforting about it, a pleasant roughness. He wiggled his fingers curiously, and felt the grip shift. Was someone holding his hand?

He peeled his eyes open, blinking blearily in the harsh hospital light. He groaned, more of… he honestly had no idea what time it was or how long he’d been asleep. Or even when he had fallen asleep. There was a mission… specimen… bullet wound…. He thought he remembered falling at one point. His already fuzzy memory turned to smoke at that point, nothing concrete enough to put it together. Vaguely, he felt the memory of something warm against his back, someone shouting in his ear, a god-awful pressure on his side. It must have been Chris…

Leon’s head felt sluggish as something next to him shifted again. He felt his hand being moved with it. Oh yeah, what was that? He twisted his head slowly to look and found himself staring a little dazed at the deep brown eyes of Chris Redfield, who looked like some horrific combination of overwhelming relief and the most intense anger.

“You fucking asshole.”

Leon winced. He really didn’t want to get chewed out. More of what had happened came back to him. He knew it had been stupid, but he had really just wanted to get on with the mission. Being so close to Chris was too much for him to bear. All he wanted every time he looked at him was to touch him, to see if he was even real, though he doubted Chris had ever felt the same. He tried to swallow what little moisture was in his mouth. God he really didn’t want to deal with this.

“Could you wait?” He slurred, trying to push the words out, though he wasn’t even sure he got them out in the right order. “Know it was stupid just… Don’t have the brains for this r’now,”

Chris shook his head, and whatever had hold of Leon’s hand loosened slightly. What was that? Leon’s thoughts were hard to keep hold of, but he finally remembered to glance down at whatever was gripping him, which was… another hand.

He was confused for a second, then followed with his eyes as the hand became a wrist, then a forearm, then a rather impressive bicep, and an even more impressive shoulder, until it eventually led to the face of one Chris Redfield.

Well that didn’t make sense. Why was Chris holding his hand?

“Oh, that’s not what I’m talking about , but don’t worry, we’ll get to that little stunt later.” Chris grumbled, but his words were almost playful and he seemed to be having a hard time keeping a straight face. As out of it as Leon was, nothing could make him that oblivious.

“I’m talking about what you said last night,”

Leon had no idea what Chris was talking about. He tried to no avail to recall what on earth Chris was talking about, before giving up and letting out a weak and confused “What…?”

Chris was fully grinning now, like a cat playing with a mouse. Leon wasn’t sure he liked where this was going. “You called yourself a coward first. Which I take offense at on your behalf, by the way. And I asked you why you said that and you said “Cause I never told you how I feel.”

It took a few seconds for Leon to process what Chris was saying, but by the time he did, he felt his face heat up and he wished he was anywhere but there.

“Mind telling me what you meant by that? Cause I think we’re in the same boat on that one.”

Leon turned his head, hoping desperately that Chris couldn’t see the heat on his face.

“Kinda rude to joke about don’t you think?” He mumbled, certain this was going to end poorly. He could never look at Chris again. He didn’t want to look at Chris now, didn’t even want to acknowledge Chris, he didn’t want to exist. God, he was a fucking idiot. He’d managed to keep it under wraps all these years, and one god damn bullet in his side made him spill like a school girl on Valentine’s day. All he wanted was for something to knock him back out, so he could deal with this when he didn’t feel like shit, when something pressed gently against his temple.

A kiss?

Had Chris just kissed him? Leon was not in a state to parse out what that meant. He whipped his head back towards Chris fast enough to make himself dizzy, his mouth hanging open in surprise as he stared, dumbstruck, at the grin on Chris’ face.

“What made you think it was a joke?” Chris asked, his voice soft, almost soothing.

Leon kept staring. He was so confused. And way too tired for this. But honestly? Whatever was going on, Leon found that he didn’t really mind. He could figure it out later. All he really knew was that Chris had kissed him. And Chris was holding his hand. And Chris had started rubbing circles with his thumb on Leon’s hand. God, it felt nice. Leon was exhausted, even just letting himself sit with the feeling of it was too much.

If he had been more aware, he would have noticed that Chris had stopped trying to talk to him about it, just letting him drift. Leon’s eyes slipped shut, as he felt the hair by his ear being moved out of the way, and a voice he barely heard murmur.

“We’ll figure it out later, just rest. I’ve got you, it’s okay.”

He felt another kiss against his temple as he slipped back into sleep. And somehow? He felt like it really would be okay.

**Author's Note:**

> Wow I'm gay, anyway thanks for reading this total excuse to just be as gay and self indulgent as possible lol  
> Let me know your thoughts!! I love hearin them!! <3


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